Infections resulting from microorganism contamination are a growing concern worldwide. Thus, it is desirable or necessary to analyze various clinical, food, environmental, or other samples to identify and/or quantify microorganisms that may be present. The microorganisms often need to be separated from at least some of the other components in samples or concentrated prior to identification and/or quantification. Additionally, it may be desirable or necessary to purify various materials such as fluid samples by removing various microorganisms.
Many of the materials that have been used for the separation or removal of microorganisms have been inorganic materials. Such materials are described, for example, in Patent Application Publications WO 2006/133519 A1 (Finnie et al.), WO 2012/078426 (Kshirsagar et al.), and WO 2012/078374 (Kshirsagar et al.).
Various polymeric particles having pores have been prepared. Some of these have been used, for example, as ion exchange resins or other chromatographic resins. Others have been used, for example, to adsorb and/or deliver different active agents. Such particles are described, for example, in U.S. Patent Application 2010/0104647 (Ting), U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0123456 (Pandit et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,908 (Kitagawa), and Patent Application Publications WO 2013/077981 (Sahouani), WO 2007/075508 (Rasmussen et al.), and WO 2007/075442 (Rasmussen et al.).